A HIGHLY critical report today lays bare the "piecemeal and inconsistent" approach to human trafficking by Scottish authorities.

The report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) in Scotland follows almost two years of evidence gathering.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, the investigating commissioner for the EHRC inquiry, told The Herald she has been "shocked" by evidence she has heard and that new legislation, training and awareness-raising is required.

She warned that the police, not UKBA, should be the lead agency on trafficking because of the culture of "disbelief" in the Border Agency, and criticised the lack of coherent joint-working by authorities.

Previous estimates suggest there are approximately 700 victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in Scotland at any one time, but there has been just one successful conviction for human trafficking.

Stephen Craig, 34, of Clydebank, and Sarah Beukan, 22, of Leith, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty in September to a contravention of Section 22 of the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003, and were jailed in October by Glasgow Sheriff Court, Craig for 40 months and Beukan for 18 months.

"The legislation and handling is piecemeal and inconsistent," Baroness Kennedy said. "There has to be a strategic approach to ensure those who have been subjected to trafficking are treated as victims.

"The authorities don't realise people participate because of fear.

"There needs to be a real national strategy where people have much greater awareness of human trafficking. Without better knowledge and antennae for frontline staff and the public, people will not know if what they are seeing is trafficking or not. Police are going into premises on drugs raids and just not realising that there is evidence of human trafficking in the same premises."

She added: "The problem is far wider than sexual exploitation. Before I came up to Scotland to do the review I genuinely did not expect to see domestic servitude. But there are business people in Scotland who might be second- generation immigrants and have brought over a young person to sleep on a mat in their kitchen and taken their passport away from them and forced them to work for nothing. They are living hellish lives.

"As a lawyer I have listened to terrible things and there is not much that shocks me, but what I have heard has shocked me."

She added that the police should be the lead agency because trafficking is a crime. "There is the terrible possibility of sending women to their death because they have testified against their oppressors and not been given sufficient support."

Earlier this year police warned that nine major crime gangs are trafficking people into Scotland for the sex trade and forced labour. Chinese Triads and Albanian smugglers have been picked up on the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency's radar and gangsters can make tens of thousands of pounds every year from every person they smuggle in illegally.

Baroness Kennedy said: "So much of the control is mind control because people are so afraid of their traffickers. Police are sometimes surprised that when they discover victims of trafficking that they don't rush into their arms and show relief.

"They question why the women or other victims don't run away when they have the chance, but this is like domestic abuse – there is a freezing of the human will. Their captors might even allow them out to go to Marks and Spencers but they don't run away or go to the police because they are terrified."

Kenny MacAskill, the Justice Secretary, said: "We wholeheartedly support the fight against trafficking and are committed to working with others to ensure that it is eradicated."